Super League Set of Six: England advance falls on deaf ears at Sportsweek

James Graham, centre, goes over for England's third and decisive try under pressure from New Zealand's Elijah Taylor in Saturday's Four Nations win at Hull. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/PA

1 History beckons

That was a seriously good England performance. To demolish New Zealand, the reigning World Cup and Four Nations champions, is an achievement that should be acknowledged and celebrated. Sure, the Kiwis were under-strength, and disgracefully indisciplined. But it has gone almost unnoticed that England were without Gareth Ellis as well as Sam Burgess, the two forwards who have proved themselves to be world-class in the National Rugby League over the past couple of years.

You could make an argument that Ellis, Burgess and Sean O'Loughlin, the Wigan loose forward who is also injured, would be England's first-choice back row. But you wouldn't want to omit Ben Westwood or Jon Wilkin on Saturday's performance, and Jamie Jones-Buchanan has been terrific all tournament off the interchange bench.

Now, in case you hadn't noticed – like BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme, for example, which couldn't find time for a mention last Sunday morning but managed to repeat a midweek interview with Lewis Moody plugging his book – England are 80 minutes away from winning a major international competition for the first time since 1972.

2 Reality bites

The problem is, they have been in this position 10 times since 1990 – needing to beat Australia in either a final or a decisive Ashes Test – and lost each of the previous nine. Five of those defeats have come at Elland Road, which makes the choice of Leeds United FC's charmless ground for Saturday's game either admirably unsuperstitious, or depressingly unimaginative.

Let's get a few more negatives out of the way. England had most of the luck that was going against the Kiwis – an unpunished forward pass leading to their first try, an illegal ball steal setting up the crucial third after New Zealand had been pressing at 14-6, and only an eagle-eyed video referee prevented them falling 6-0 behind inside three minutes.

Australia remain very, very good. Jamie Peacock summed that up in a sentence at Monday's Elland Road press conference. "They probably weren't that happy with how they played against Wales, but they still scored more points against them than either us or New Zealand did." That showed the Aussies still have attacking potency that condemned England to a 46-16 defeat with a late scoring blitz in what had been a genuinely competitive 2009 Four Nations final with the likes of the brilliant Johnathan Thurston, and Darius Boyd at full-back – who looks capable of going as close as possible to replacing the irreplaceable Billy Slater – excelling.

Australia's coach Tim Sheens admitted that he was worried when Boyd went down in the last minute of the win against Wales following a clash of knees with the marvellous Lee Briers, and we'll only know for sure that he wasn't seriously injured when the teams emerge on Saturday.

Thomas Leuluai, who seems as well-qualified as anyone to comment, reckons England do have a genuine chance, but only if their forwards can dominate Australia's pack as they did New Zealand's. They were unable to do that against the Aussies at Wembley, after losing Ellis and James Graham with back injuries which drove Jamie Peacock to hobble through the second half on a painful knee. If Ellis is back, you never know – although it would be good to have Burgess there, too.

3 Farce intervenes

Then there is the likelihood that the game will have an Australian referee, Matt Cecchin. The fact that so many Australians seem to regard this as acceptable is another example of their inability to see the big picture. It just isn't a good look, holding the sport up to ridicule. Cecchin may well have been the best-performing official in the tournament so far, but the fact remains that his refereeing style will be much more familiar to Australia than England.

The same would go for Henry Perenara, the New Zealander who irritated England when the teams last met at Wembley, but at least his appointment – or that of Thierry Alibert, the Frenchman who has been a regular on the Super League panel for the last couple of years – would be more credible to the outside world. But that sort of thing has never bothered the Aussies, or in this case the three officials – one from England, one from Australia and one from New Zealand – who have made this decision. Put simply, it stinks.

4 They must be joking

The laughably light suspensions imposed on the Kiwis Issac Luke and Jeremy Smith for their fouls at Hull last Saturday smell no better. Luke has received a two-match suspension for a tackle which could have ended the career of Rangi Chase – his cousin, would you believe? – and Smith a one-match ban for an equally cynical challenge after dropping an elbow on a prone Sam Tomkins. Both have long disciplinary records, yet under the amateur-hour disciplinary procedures of the International Federation, they will be able to count pre-season trial matches towards their wrist-slapping bans – when they should at least have been wiped from a couple of internationals next year. Yet both players, presumably backed by the New Zealand Rugby League, have the hide to appeal. Unbelievable.

5 Thanks for the memories

Sorry to get so worked up in what should be a good-news week. Thank goodness for Briers, and Wales. "Yeah, belting," said the Warrington captain when asked if he had enjoyed the last match of his international career. For 38 minutes, it was as much fun as the 2000 World Cup semi final, when Briers had the half of his life to inspire a preposterous 20-6 lead. More than a decade on, his kick to set up the first try for Rhys Williams, and his dummy and half-break which led to the second for Elliot Kear, showed that even at 33, he has the wit and imagination to trouble the best defences.

Dr Phil Melling, the distinguished academic who beat the drum for league in Wales from Swansea University and performed a wide range of services for the game – from managing Clive Griffiths's pioneering student teams to writing with such passion of Billy Boston in The Glory of Their Times – would have loved it. He was remembered in the minute's silence for Remembrance Sunday before kick-off, but those Briers-inspired 38 minutes were an equally fitting tribute.

Yet Wales have been much more than a one-man show in this tournament, as their captain was keen to stress. "The best thing for me tonight has been seeing the Aussies congratulating our young forwards, and telling them they really know they've been in a game," he added. In Jordan James, Craig Kopczak, Gil Dudson and Ben Flower, Wales have a quartet of props who have proved themselves capable of holding their own at the highest level. In Kear and Williams, they have a couple of cracking young wings. Lloyd White also has high potential.

The crucial thing now is to keep digging for more young Welsh rugby talent that might be better suited to league than union, a process that will inevitably be undermined by the Crusaders' embarrassing withdrawal from the Super League.

At least it has now been confirmed that there will be two Welsh clubs in the Championship next season – the Scorpions in the south and a new Crusaders set-up in the north, who will hope to maintain the enthusiasm shown by an encouraging 5,000-plus crowd on Sunday evening. Their "derbies" next season should be intriguing, but it is the enlightened self-interest that Super League clubs such as Wigan are taking in Wales that could offer more.

It is also important that Wales, like France, are guaranteed a decent international programme for 2012, to maintain their momentum in the year before the next World Cup. If England can't generate enough southern hemisphere interest to make a meaningful tour – more evidence of the myopia of Australia's clubs – might there be mileage in an eight-team competition, also including Scotland, Ireland, Italy, the Exiles and maybe some tourists from the Pacific, to build on the increased support that the national team have earned over the last couple of weeks?

6 Send for Silvio

There seems to have been a significant development in the unedifying and damaging spat between two rival factions trying to establish rugby league in Italy, with official government recognition for the rebels in the south suggesting the balance of power is tilting their way. Paul Broadbent, the former Sheffield and Great Britain prop who spent a few weeks this autumn munching pasta in the north of the country which was the base for the team who have qualified for the 2013 World Cup, was explaining only last week at Loughborough that there is an urgent need for everybody to work together on capitalising on a real opportunity to convert more of the players who are disillusioned with Italy's rugby union set-up.

What they need is a high-profile figure with a bit of time on his hands, and a bit of clout in the local media. Any ideas? As usual, get stuck in below the line. Only one Set to go now – will it be celebrating a long-awaited England triumph, or reflecting on another crushing disappointment? My guess would be somewhere in between. But you never know.